The doctrine of the hypostatic union

1. By way of definition, in the person of Jesus Christ are two natures inseparably united, without mixture or loss of separate identity, without loss or transfer of properties or attributes, the union being personal and eternal.

2. The two natures involve the deity of Christ. He is coequal with the Father and with the Holy Spirit, both of whom have identical characteristics. When the Bible says God is one it is always referring to essence. Jesus Christ is also different from the other members of the Trinity in that he is a man having a body, a soul, and a human spirit. So He has two natures, God and Man in one person forever. John 1:1-14; Romans 1:2-5; (;5; Philippians 2:5-11; 1 Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 2:14.

3. The incarnate person of Christ includes His deity. Jesus Christ is God, coequal and co-eternal with the Father and with the Holy Spirit. His incarnation does not diminish His deity and therefore He is undiminished deity even though He is in hypostatic union. There is no change in the deity of Christ.

4. The incarnate person of Christ is true humanity. He is a bona fide member of the human race with a body, a soul, and a human spirit, minus the old sin nature. Because of the virgin birth Jesus Christ came into the world without a sin nature and without the imputation of Adam’s sin. He was without both of those and so He was born in the same status as Adam came into the world — without sin.

5. The two natures are united without transfer of attributes. The attributes adhere to their corresponding natures. That means that the divine attributes are always the divine attributes and the human attributes are always the human attributes and their is no “leak” back and forth. The essence of deity cannot be changed — doctrine of immutability; the infinite cannot be transferred to the finite. If you rob God of one attribute of His essence then you destroy His deity. To rob Jesus Christ of His humanity or one single attribute of His humanity would destroy humanity. But it must be remembered that from the virgin birth Jesus Christ has been and always will be truly God and truly man in one person forever.

6. No attribute of essence or deity was changed by the incarnation. In fulfilling the purpose of the first advent certain attributes of deity were not used. But this does not imply that they were either surrendered or destroyed. They were merely held in check in keeping with the plan of the Father for the first advent. The plan of the Father for the first advent was to provide a strategic victory which would once and for all break the back of Satan. This strategic victory calls for the humiliation of Christ, bearing our sins on the cross. The problem of the old sin nature has to be solved in the cosmos. All of the sins of the old sin nature are poured out and judged and all human good is rejected at the cross. Then, because Jesus Christ is a priest and because the offering of Himself was only the first function of His priesthood He must remain alive. In death He is eliminated as a priest, but three days later His resurrection, ascension and session puts Him in the driver’s seat to make intercession for us, as per Hebrews 7:25. Therefore the priesthood of Christ is perpetuated by resurrection, therefore He had to be resurrected. Then, furthermore, the priesthood of Christ was perpetuated by His ascension. Whereas the high priest in Israel could only enter the holy of holies once a year our high priest has entered the reality. The holy of holies is merely a type of heaven. Our high priest has actually entered heaven and now represents us at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us.

The true doctrine of Kenosis: Jesus Christ, during His time on this earth, voluntarily restricted the independent use of certain divine attributes in keeping with the plan of the Father during the first advent. This did not in any way eliminate them from His essence.

7. Therefore the union of divine essence and human nature in the incarnation of Christ is hypostatic and personal. “Hypostatic” refers to the whole person of Christ as distinguished from His two natures, divine and human. “Personal” refers to the emergence of a unique person. The hypostatic union is personal in the sense that Jesus Christ is truly God and truly man, of course superior to all mankind.

8. There is a false interpretation which occasionally breaks out during the course of church history. Many of the great controversies in church history have occurred over this very fact. The false interpretation is that deity possessed humanity, or that the deity of Christ indwelt His humanity, or that the union was simply harmony or sympathy. These are the major heresies in the field. But, once again, the hypostatic union is personal, the divine and human natures have been combined into one person, once essence, forever.

9. Therefore Jesus Christ, the God-Man has one hypostasis or one essence forever. The attributes of the divine and human nature belong to the person of Christ. The characteristics of one nature are never attributed to the other and this means that during the first advent Jesus Christ would be simultaneously omnipotent and weak, omniscient and ignorant. However, the ignorance of His humanity was quickly overcome by the daily function of GAP — Luke 2:40,52; John 1:14.

10. The necessity for the humanity of Christ. There are four reasons why Christ had to become a member of the human race.

a) The first reason is because as God he can’t save us. Deity can plan it but deity can’t execute the plan. It takes humanity to execute the plan. Every characteristic of deity is immutable and unchangeable. What happened to the deity of Christ on the cross? It remained in the hypostasis but it remained without change. Philippians 2:7,8; Hebrews 2:14,15.

b) To be a mediator. A mediator must be equal with both parties in the mediation. A mediator is defined for us in Job. He pulls two parties together by being equal with both parties — Job 9:2, 32-33; 1 Timothy 2:5,6.

c) Priesthood — emphasises in Hebrews 7:4,5,14,28; 10:5,10-14. A priest is a man, he must be a member of the human race.

d) God cannot lie. Veracity is one of the characteristics of His essence. When God makes a promise He must keep the promise. In this case God promised David that no matter whether he failed or succeeded he would have a son in his line who would rule forever, and that David’s dynasty would be the one dynasty in all of history that would be perpetuated into eternity. 2 Samuel 7:8-16; Psalm 89:20-37. There is no way that this could be fulfilled except one, and that is for Jesus Christ to come in the line of David.

11. Everything verbally communicated by Christ during the incarnation came from one of three sources: His deity — John 8:58; His humanity — John 19:28; His hypostatic union — His calls for salvation, like Matthew 11:28.

12. Categories of attributes as related to the person of Jesus Christ.

a) Attributes true of His whole person, the God-Man, include redeemer or saviour. Both divine and human natures are essential to the function of Christ as saviour.

b) Attributes true only of His deity but the whole person [God-Man] is the subject. John 8:58.

c) Attributes true only of His humanity but the whole person is the subject — John 19:28.

d) The person of Christ is described according to the divine nature but predicate of the human nature — Revelation 1:12-18. In other words, Christ is described as the one who was dead but now is alive. The deity of Christ is in evidence but death is only possible to the humanity of Christ.

e) The person is described according to the human nature but the predicate of the divine nature — John 6:62. The Son of man belongs to the human nature. The Son of man ascending up where He was before applies only to the divine nature.

f) The person of Christ described according to His divine nature but predicate of both natures — John 5:25-27. Here we have Christ as the Son of God who spoke to those who were spiritually dead and those who heard, having positive volition, lived. But in the future Christ will execute judgement as the Son of man — His human nature. So the person of Christ is described according to His divine nature but the predicate of both natures.

g) The person of Christ is described according to His human nature but the predicate of both natures — Matthew 27:46. Here Christ was speaking from the viewpoint of His human nature but the pronoun “me” has reference to both natures.